GSA has published its first 5G Device Ecosystem report confirming that as of mid March 2019 there were 7 announced 5G device form factors: (phones, hotspots, indoor CPE, outdoor CPE, modules, snap-on dongles/adapters and USB terminals).
In the GSA 5G Device Ecosystem report, GSA has identified 19 vendors who have confirmed the availability of forthcoming 5G devices with 33 officially announced devices plus regional variants.
Breakdown per form factor: 12 phones (plus regional variants), 5 hotspots (plus regional variants), 8 CPE devices (indoor and outdoor), 5 modules, 2 snap-on dongles / adapters, 1 USB terminal.
GSA also confirms that 5G chipsets have been announced or are available from five vendors (Huawei, Intel, Mediatek, Qualcomm and Samsung). Other potential, but – as far as GSA has been able to determine – not officially announced, 5G devices, include:
- Netgear Nighthawk M2 5G Hotspot – reported by secondary sources as planned for Telstra’s network
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10 5G – secondary source confirmation only, based on analysis of Galaxy Note 10 Kernel code.
- In addition, earlier versions of the Huawei indoor CPE containing the Balong 5G01 chipset are, according to the vendor, still being used in selected pre-commercial trials.
While 5G trials have used prototype user equipment (UE), commercial services need commercial devices. Consequently the 5G device ecosystem rapidly started to emerge as the first (limited) commercial 5G services were announced. As more services go live during 2019, we can expect the device ecosystem to grow quickly. GSA will be tracking and reporting regularly on 5G device launch announcements.
The GSA GAMBoD database will contain key details about 5G device form factors, features, and support for the different spectrum bands.
